The United States in World War II

Chapter 25

Mobilizing for Defense

Section 1

Americans Join the War EffortThe Japanese expected Americans to react with

fear and despair to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Instead, they reacted with rage.

Five million men volunteered for military service. Another 10 million recruited through the selective service.

But fighting a war on two fronts (in Europe & in the Pacific) required huge numbers of soldiers.

Another 10 million men were drafted. New soldiers received eight weeks of basic training.

Then they were officially “GIs”, a nickname coming from the term “Government Issue.”

ContinuedThe Army Chief of Staff during WWII was

General George Marshall, and in order to free more men for combat, he suggested using women for noncombat military tasks.

Congress created the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps(WAAC) in 1942.

About 25,000 women volunteered to serve in the military, doing non-combat tasks. However, they did not receive the same pay or benefits as men.

Men & women from minority groups also served in WWII.

ContinuedThey included Mexican Americans, Asian

Americans, and Native Americans.Some African Americans had mixed

feelings about defending a country where they were often segregated and denied the basic rights of citizenship.

More than a million African Americans served, but in racially segregated units. These unites were not even allowed into combat until the last year of the war.

A Production MiracleThe nation’s factories quickly switched to war

production. Automobile factories made planes and tanks.

Pencil-makers turned out bomb parts. Shipyards and defense plants expanded. They produced warships with amazing speed.

About 18 million workers kept these war industries going. Some 6 million new factory workers were women.

Men feared women would not be able to handle the heavy work. Once they proved they could do the work, the factories hired them. However, they paid women 60% as much as men.

ContinuedBefore the war, most defense contractors

had refused to hire African Americans. A. Phillip Randolph, the president of the

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, was an important African American labor leader. He threatened to have African Americans march on Washington to demand an end to this discrimination. Roosevelt feared such a march. He issued an executive order (issued by President) banning discrimination in defense industries.

ContinuedThe government hired scientists to develop

new weapons and medicines.They made improvements in radar & sonar,

& in “miracle drugs” like penicillin.The government also set up the

Manhattan Project, which was a secret organization that developed the atomic bomb.

The Federal Government Takes ControlThe federal government was worried about economic

issues.Congress set up the Office of Price

Administration (OPA). It successfully fought inflation by “freezing,” or not increasing, prices on most goods.

Congress also raised taxes. The War Production Board (WPB) decided which companies would make war materials and how to distribute raw materials.

The OPA also set up a system of rationing (restricting the amount of food & goods people could buy during wartime). Families were issued coupons to be used for buying scarce items, such as meat & gasoline.

The War for Europe & North Africa

Section 2

The U.S. & Britain Join ForcesIn late December 1941, a few weeks after Pearl

Harbor, President Roosevelt met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

They planned their war strategy. They agreed that the first thing to do was to defeat Hitler’s Germany.

Roosevelt & Churchill began a lasting friendship & a strong alliance between America & Britain.

Allies organized convoys, or groups, for shared protection.

Warships & airplanes escorted the convoys. They used sonar & radar to find & destroy many German submarines.

ContinuedThe U.S. also started building ships at a

rapid pace. Soon there were more Allied cargo ships, or Liberty ships, being made than being sunk.

By mid-1943, the tide of the Battle of the Atlantic had turned in favor of the Allies.

The Eastern Front & the MediterraneanThe German invasion of the Soviet Union had

begun in 1941.When it stalled in 1942, Hitler changed his

tactics. He moved to capture Soviet oil fields & to take the industrial city of Stalingrad.

The Germans bombed Stalingrad until almost the whole city was on fire.

Stalin refused to give up. The Soviets trapped a large force of Germans just as winter came. The Germans froze & starved.

In February 1943, the few German soldiers who were alive surrendered.

ContinuedThe Battle of Stalingrad was a turning

point. From then on, Soviet forces moved steadily west

towards Germany.In November 1942, the Allies invaded North

Africa. North Africa at the time was controlled by the Axis.

American forces, led by General Dwight D. (“Ike”) Eisenhower defeated German troops under General Erwin Rommel.

In May 1943, the Germans surrendered in North Africa.

ContinuedIn July 1943, the Allies invaded Italy. They

captured Sicily. The war-weary Italian king stripped Prime Minister Mussolini of power and had him arrested.

Hitler then seized Italy. It took 18 long & bloody months of fighting

for the Allies to drive the Germans out of Italy.

The Allies Liberate EuropeThe Americans & British had been building a

huge invasion force for 2 years. It was designed to liberate Europe.

June 6, 1944, was D-Day. The day the Allies crossed the English Channel and landed in Normandy, France in order to liberate Europe. This invasion was the largest land-sea-air operation in history.

British, American, and Canadian forces landed on the beaches of Normandy. They met fierce German resistance, and many were killed.

Over 1 million Allied troops landed in France, and began to advance.

ContinuedAmerican General Omar Bradley opened a huge

hole in the German lines. It allowed American General George Patton and his Third Army to liberate Paris in August.

By September, the Allies had liberated other European nations and had entered Germany itself.

Meanwhile, in the United States, Roosevelt won reelection to a fourth term as president.

To the Allies’ surprise, Hitler began a counterattack in December. At first, the Germans cut deeply into the Allied lines. After a month of fierce fighting, the Allies pushed the Germans back.

ContinuedThe Germans had lost so many men & weapons

in this Battle of the Bulge (German counter-offensive in December 1944) that they could only retreat.

Meanwhile, the Soviets pushed through Poland toward Germany.

The Soviets were the first to liberate death camps & to describe the unbelievable horrors they saw there.

By April 25, the Soviets were in Berlin. Hitler responded to certain defeat by shooting

himself.

ContinuedOn May 8, 1945, General Eisenhower

accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany.

That became known as V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day).

Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945 before V-E Day.

Vice President Harry S. Truman became the 33rd President.

The War in the Pacific

Section 3

The Allies Stem the Japanese TideIn the first 6 months after Pearl Harbor, the

Japanese military had great success. They conquered huge areas of the Asian mainland and many islands in the Pacific.

These conquered areas included, Hong Kong, Malaya, Burma, Thailand, Guam, Wake Island, Solomon Islands, Aleutian Islands, and the Philippines.

In 1942, Japanese forces threatened the American army in the Philippines.

General Douglas MacArthur was the commander of the American army.

ContinuedIn March 1942, MacArthur left the Philippines

but told people left behind, “I shall return.”In the spring of 1942, Lt. Colonel James

Doolittle led a bombing raid on Tokyo. The U.S. Navy defeated the Japanese at the Battle of Coral Sea. This ended the Japanese threat to invade Australia.

In June 1942, the Japanese steamed toward Midway, an island northwest of Hawaii.

American forces broke the Japanese code & knew of their plans.

ContinuedAdmiral Chester Nimitz commanded

American forces that crushed the Japanese. This led to an American victory.

Battle of Midway was a turning point in the Pacific War.

After Midway, the Allies began “island hopping,” moving closer to Japan.

The Allies Go on the OffensiveAmerican forces, led by General MacArthur, now

went island-hopping towards Japan. They avoided islands that were well defended by the Japanese.

American marines stormed the island of Guadalcanal in August 1942. This marked Japan’s first defeat on land.

In October 1944, Americans landed on the island of Leyte in the Philippines.

The Japanese launched kamikaze raids. Kamikaze raids are suicide attacks in which Japanese pilot crashed their planes into Allied ships supporting the invasion.

ContinuedStill, Japan lost so many ships in the Battle of Leyte

Gulf that the Japanese Navy was essentially knocked out of the war.

The Americans took the island of Iwo Jima in March 1945.

This extremely bloody battle gave the U.S. a base to launch heavy bombers that could reach Japan itself.

A fierce battle raged over the island of Okinawa. The island was Japan’s last defensive outpost.

The Americans finally won on June 22, 1945, but it cost 7,600 American lives. Japan lost 110,000 men. The Allies feared the human cost of invading Japan.

Iwo Jima

The Atomic Bomb Ends the WarAs American forces neared Japan in March 1945,

President Roosevelt died. Vice President Harry S. Truman became president.

President Truman was told about the Manhattan Project.

This was the secret development of the atomic bomb led by J. Robert Oppenheimer.

On July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb was tested at Alamogordo, New Mexico. The flash was visible 180 miles away and it was 7,000˚.

Oppenheimer

ContinuedIt was more powerful than predicted. Many

scientists felt it would be immoral to drop the bomb on Japan.

Others said it would shorten the war & save lives.It would also give the U.S. an advantage over the

Soviets after the war. Truman decided to use the bomb.

On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Almost every building collapsed into dust. But Japan did not surrender.

A second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing 200,000. Emperor Hirohito was horrified. Japan surrendered September 2, 1945. The war was over.

End-of-War FactsThe plane that dropped the atomic bomb

was the Enola Gay, a B29.The first bomb was known as “Little Boy.”Three days later, a bomb was dropped on

Nagasaki.The second bomb was known as “Fat Man.”Japanese forces surrendered on the USS

Missouri.Hirohito was the Emperor and Tojo was the

Militant Prime Minister that overthrew the Emperor.

Rebuilding BeginsIn February 1945, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin

met at the Yalta Conference.Stalin & Churchill disagreed on how to treat

Germany.Roosevelt made concessions to Stalin. He wanted

Stalin to help in the fight to defeat Japan. He also wanted Stalin to support the United Nations.

At Yalta, the allies agreed to divide Germany into four zones.

Stalin agreed to allow free election in Poland & other Eastern European countries now occupied by the Soviet Army.

ContinuedThe Nuremberg Trials (trials held by an

international tribunal) was held to try Nazi leaders.

For the first time, a nation’s leaders were held responsible for their wartime acts.

They were tried:For starting the warFor acts against the customs of warFor killing prisoners and,For the murder and enslavement of civilians.

The Home Front

Section 4

Opportunity & AdjustmentWWII was a time of opportunity for many

Americans. The economy boomed. There were plenty of jobs.

Wages rose. Farmers also did well.Women had many job opportunities during the

war. The share of women in the work force rose to 35%. However, some of these jobs were lost when men returned from military service.

Women also did a wide range of jobs and entered professions that had not been open to them before the war.

Many Americans relocated—picked up and moved.

ContinuedThey moved to where there were defense jobs. States with military bases or defense plants

(such as Virginia) saw huge gains in population.People had to adjust to new family situations.

Many fathers were in the armed forces, so women had to work & raise children on their own.

The war also caused a boom in marriages. Many couples married before the men went overseas. However, when the men returned after years of military service, many of these marriages failed. The divorce rate increased.

ContinuedIn 1944, Congress passed the GI Bill of

Rights. It was designed to help servicemen readjust to civilian life. This bill paid for veterans to attend college or technical school.

More than half the returning soldiers took advantage of this opportunity.

It also gave federal loan guarantees to veterans buying homes or farms or starting businesses.

The GI Bill gave many people opportunities they otherwise would never have had.

Discrimination & ReactionOn the home front, many African

Americans left the South & moved to the West Coast.

There they found skilled jobs that paid well. However, they also found prejudice.

In 1942, civil rights leader James Farmer, formed a new interracial organization to fight discrimination. It was called the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).

Mexican Americans experienced prejudice during the war years as well.

ContinuedIn 1942, there were anti-Mexican riots in

Los Angeles. In the “zoot-suit” riots, Mexican Americans

were beaten by white servicemen & civilians.

“Zoot-suit” was the style of dress by young Mexicans. It was a symbol of rebellion against tradition. It consisted of a long jacket, pleated pants, and broad brim hats.

Internment of Japanese AmericansJapanese Americans endured terrible treatment

during the war. After Pearl Harbor, panic-stricken Americans believed Japanese Americans living in the U.S. were disloyal to the U.S.

In Hawaii, the commanding general ordered the internment, or confinement (especially during wartime) of about 1 percent of Japanese-American residents.

On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt ordered the internment of all Japanese Americans living in California, and parts of other western states.

ContinuedMore than 100,000 people were rounded up &

shipped to internment camps.No charges were ever filed against Japanese

Americans. No evidence of subversion was ever found.

In 1944, in the case of Korematsu v. United States, the Supreme Court said the government policy was justified by “military necessity.”

After the war, the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) pushed the government to compensate, or pay back those sent to the camps.

ContinuedOver the years, Congress passed bills to

repay those who had been interned of the loss of their property.

Finally in 1990, cash payments of $20,000 were sent to all former internees.

In a letter that year, President Bush said the nation “recognized the injustice done to Japanese Americans during World War II.”